BRENTS_C_WK6_RTI_INTERVIEW
Interviewer:
Cathi Brents
Interviewee:
Jill Date
Title:
Acting Principal for Camp Read (Summer School)
Instructional Coach/Lead Teacher (Regular School Year)
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Contact Information:
Jill Date
Instructional Coach
Sarah Milner Elementary School
CELL/ExLL Literacy Coordinator
(970) 613-6705
jill.date@thompsonschools.org
Does your school use RTI (Response to Intervention)?
Yes, we use RTI for both academic and behavior struggles.
What does RTI look like here? What are the steps?
When a struggling student is identified (typically be a teacher), the identifying person
starts the process by filling out RTI paperwork on the student. That paperwork kicks off
a wave of response. Mrs. Date, as the school Instructional Coach, reviews the students’
assessment data. A meeting is set up to discuss possible interventions for the student
with the Student Success Team (SST), which consists of the Principal, Instructional
Coach, Special Education Team, the teacher, and the parents. Interventions are tried and
access every eight weeks for effectiveness and are determined to either be working or
not. If the interventions are working and the student’s assessment scores indicate they
are progressing sufficiently according to the RTI formulas, they will return to the typical
classroom instruction. If interventions are determined to be ineffective (assessment scores
indicated progression and rate of improvement is not being made), disability testing is
completed. Based on the testing results and guidance from the SST, these students are
placed on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
Who is responsible for ultimately deciding if a student might need additional
support?
The SST is ultimately responsible. She added that parents have a say over whether the
special education / cognitive testing is conducted but parents do not have a say as to
which intervention methods are used.
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Are teachers at your school provided clear direction as to the RTI process or steps
to take here? Is that done upon hire, yearly, as needed?
I would like to improve in this area and set up an official training every year. Right now
I conduct a training every two to three years. As the Instructional Coach, I do meet with
all teachers who are newly hired each year and go of the RTI process at our school and I
show them where to find the paperwork should they need it.
Who (which teachers, specialists, administrators, etc.) make up the RTI team at
your school?
The Principal, Instructional Coach, Special Education Team, the teacher who identified
the student, and the student’s parents.
At what point are parents brought in and involved in the process?
The first RTI meeting with the SST.
Does RTI happen at all grade levels?
Yes. Typically I see more referrals in the primary grades but struggling children are
identified at every grade level.
Have parents been fairly receptive to RTI?
For the most part they are. I have had a few that refuse to have their child tested for
special education / cognitive testing. Some parents don’t want their child labeled as
special education. There is still a stigma with it for some people. I try to explain what
special education services looks like in schools today and how most children remain in
the typical classroom for all or most of the day and work with specialists as needed either
in or out of the regular classroom. It is always the parents’ choice to have their child
tested however and we have to respect that.
Research shows that the number of students identified as truly needing special
education services has gone down when RTI is used, do you agree?
I believe that to be true however this school was practicing efforts similar to RTI before
RTI became a thing in schools. As such, not too much changed for us except for making
our system more formal around the RTI Tiers and processes. As such, our numbers have
remained fairly consistent in placing students on IEPs.
Approximately how many students at your school are on IEPs as a result of RTI?
This past school year (2014/2015) we had 319 students, 33 had IEPs.
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Do you see many students who have IEPs progress out of them?
No, most students on an IEP stay on an IEP. For example, out of 33 students on IEPs last
year, only 2 progressed out of them.
Once and IEP is in place, how often is it reviewed for effectiveness? By whom?
Annual meetings are conducted each school year. This is a formal review of the student’s
IEP with parents and the SST.
Tri-annual data meetings for students with IEPs are conducted every three years. This is
a more in-depth analysis of the student and their progression.
Teachers and specialists meet at least 3 times a year to discuss the student.
When students move here or leave, do their IEPs follow them to the next school?
They are supposed to. Our district has parents register their children on-line for school.
Some parents do not understand exactly what their children’s plans are called so they
don’t mark it online when they complete the form. Sometimes parents think things will
be different at a new school so they don’t mark certain fields. Sometimes parents simply
overlook the field or figure the schools will send the appropriate information to each
other. There can also be language barriers when completing the form.
Student records are sent between schools but it can take a while to identify the school
students come from or are leaving to if they are leaving the district.
This past year we had a 4th Grade boy for whom Sarah Milner Elementary was the 12th
school he had attended. He was only at our school for 15 weeks before he moved again.
His records (including his IEP) arrived week 14.
Are English Language Learners automatically assigned an IEP?
No. English Language Learners are placed on an English Development Plan (EDP).
They spend time daily with our school English Language Acquisition teacher on literacy
skills. Once they test out of the program, they are no longer on an EDP.